I recall these past horrors because of what this column has long called the gradual “Sovietization” of the United States. This shameful week, it became clear Canada is also afflicted. We have seen America’s president and vice president, sworn to uphold the Constitution, advocating exactly the same tortures techniques KGB used at the Lubyanka. They claimed beating, freezing, sleep deprivation, and drowning were necessary to prevent terrorist attacks, calling them by the euphemism, “tough interrogation.” Stalin made the same arguments, but did not stoop to euphemisms.The White House insisted that anyone charged with vague “terrorism offenses” – including Americans – could be kidnapped, tortured, and tried in camera using “evidence” obtained by torturing other suspects. Bush & Co. reject the basic law of habeas corpus and US laws against torture. The UN says Bush’s torture plans violate international law and the Geneva Conventions... http://www.lewrockwell.com

A suicide bomber struck outside the compound of a southern Afghan provincial governor on Tuesday, killing 18 people, including several Muslim pilgrims seeking paperwork to travel to Mecca, officials said. Afghan soldiers at the compound's security gate stopped the attacker, where he detonated his explosives vest, said Ghulam Muhiddin, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor. The bomber had been walking toward a vehicle of the private military contractors who provide security for the governor, said Squadron Leader Jason Chalk, a NATO spokesman. Nine Afghan soldiers and nine civilians were killed, said Rahmatullah Mohammdi, director of the hospital in Lashkar Gah. Seventeen people were wounded, he said. The governor, Mohammed Daoud Safi, was inside the compound and was not injured in the attack.How come they don’t report the civilian deaths as Collateral Damage? Oh I forgot, we only use the term “Collateral Damage” when we do the killing...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/26/terror/main2039338.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2039338

Today's college students are failing to graduate with a knowledge of and appreciation for America's history and institutions, a new report says. Warning of a "coming crisis in American citizenship," it blames U.S. colleges and universities for neglecting to prepare students for their civic responsibilities. "We risk a generation of young people not knowing what America stands for," says Eugene Hickok, former deputy secretary of education (under President Bush) and member of the board that commissioned the report. "This isn't saying students aren't doing a good job. It's saying institutions aren't doing a good job." The report will be released today by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a Delaware-based non-profit. It is based on a survey given last fall to two sets of schools. If we don’t learn history we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Maybe that’s why we keep doing the same stupid things and expecting a different result...http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-09-26-history-report_x.htm?csp=34

The Bush administration said on Tuesday it may declassify an intelligence report in order to respond to Democrats who say the document shows the Iraq war has been a distraction from the war on terrorism. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said officials were "giving serious consideration" to releasing the National Intelligence Estimate on the U.S. terrorism threat to demonstrate that the section being seized on by Democrats is only one part of the overall picture.The report, part of which was leaked to the media, has become an issue in the runup to November 7 mid-term elections when control of both houses of Congress is at stake.Part of the report said U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Iraq war has made the worldwide threat from Islamist extremists more dangerous.It has inspired their growing militant movement and created a ready source of anti-American rhetoric, current and former intelligence officials familiar with the document say....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060926/pl_nm/security_bush_dc

Thousands of Guatemalan security forces have stormed a prison that has been under prisoner control for 10 years, killing seven inmates. Prisoners responded to the raid with guns, grenades and knives, but were overpowered and taken to another jail. The jail had been run by a prisoners' committee that turned over tens of thousands of dollars monthly, and paid for a luxury lifestyle for top inmates. Guatemala's president visited the jail and declared the operation a success. "Fortunately it went well," said President Oscar Berger. "We thought there would be more regrettable incidents, although we regret the deaths of the seven inmates and the wounded policeman," he said. "It is degrading, inhuman and a mess here - totally without authority," he added, explaining why 3,000 troops and police were ordered to raid the Pavon facility. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5380920.stm

British troops in Iraq have shot dead an al-Qaida leader who escaped from a maximum security prison in Afghanistan last year, officials said today.Omar al-Farouq was killed yesterday after he opened fire on British soldiers who were raiding his home in the southern city of Basra, Major Charlie Burbridge said.Maj Burbridge refused to confirm that the dead man was definitely the same person who allegedly led al-Qaida's operations in south-east Asia, saying only he was understood to be a leading terrorist.However, a police officer in Basra said al-Farouq was the same escaped prisoner, adding that he had entered Iraq three months ago under the name Mahmoud Ahmed and was known to be a bomb-making expert....http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,1881380,00.html